Survival expert Bear Grylls found himself in deep water after apparently leaving his young son on rocks in the sea off Abersoch during a training exercise for lifeboat crews.

The TV star was slammed by the RNLI, who criticised his decision to involve his son Jesse.

The row broke out after Grylls - who is understood to be on holiday in North Wales at his home on St Tudwal’s Island - tweeted a picture of Jesse which was captioned “Jesse and the @rnli on a training exercise to rescue him off the rocks!”

An RNLI spokesman said: "‘Bear Grylls had approached Abersoch RNLI during the week and asked if, on our normal Thursday training evening, we could do an exercise with him. We did not appreciate that the exercise would involve him putting his son on ‘Half Tide Rocks.’

"Bear Grylls put his son on the rocks and then the lifeboat, as part of the exercise, rescued him from the rocks.

"Abersoch RNLI has launched 15 times in the last three weeks and some of our shouts do involve rescuing children. Last year a third of all those rescued by Abersoch were under 18. In hindsight the child should not have been on the rocks but everyone was acting with the best of intentions and getting valuable practise in rescuing a child."

One crew member tweeted him back thanking Grylls - who is an ambassador for the RNLI - for “organising the exercise” on Thursday.

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The Daily Post has so far been unable to contact adventurer Mr Grylls - who on Friday opened the new Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue HQ after spending the morning with Prime Minister David Cameron at the Oaklands Outdoor Educational Centre in Llanrwst - to put the RNLI's comments to him.

Earlier this year, the RNLI launched a new “Respect the Water” campaign. Over 200 people accidentally die each year around the British coast.

The campaign has a goal to halve the number of coastal drownings by 2024.

Part of the publicity material states: “We still want you to enjoy the water, but we also want you to Respect the Water, acknowledge its dangers and never underestimate its power.”